Dynamic communication link scaling

ABSTRACT

Traffic between a first device and a second device across a plurality of communication lanes of a communication link is stalled. A first device side of the communication lane is powered-down on at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one communication lane. A power-down request is sent from the first device to the second device to power-down a second device-side of the at least one communication lane. Traffic between the first device and the second device is restarted over the active communication lanes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to communication links, and in particular, multilane communication links.

BACKGROUND

In data center environments, rack units may house many server devices, such as blade servers. Each server device may be configured to host one or more physical or virtual host devices. The servers in the rack units are connected to switch devices such as Top of Rack (ToR) switch devices. The switches, in turn, are connected to other switches via a spine switch or spine fabric. Data in a communication session may be exchanged between host devices (physical and/or virtual) in the same or different rack units. For example, packets of data in the session may be sent from a host device in one rack unit to a host device in another rack unit using network or fabric links. Fabric networks provide cross-connections between multiple fabric links on the same linecard or across multiple linecards. A fabric link may include multiple fabric lanes in each fabric link.

In a fabric, significant power is consumed by the serial input/output devices used to communicate over the fabric links. For example, consider a fabric with 28 fabric links, with each link consisting of 8 fabric lanes. If each lane includes a serializer/deserializer which consumes 240 mW of power in a specific period of time, 53.7 W of power are consumed for a single fabric during that time. During the period in which the fabric link is not fully utilized, each serializer/deserializer still consumes peak power.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a multilane communication link between a first device and a second device, in which dynamic communication link scaling is employed according to the techniques presented herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates a crossbar used to control dynamic communication link scaling in a fabric link.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process for powering-down at least one lane of a multilane communication link from the perspective of a master device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process for powering-down at least one lane of a multilane communication link from the perspective of a target device.

FIG. 5 is a ladder diagram illustrating messages sent between the master device and the target device to power-down at least one lane of a multilane communication link.

FIG. 6 is a ladder diagram illustrating messages between the master device and the target device to power-up at least one lane of a multilane communication link.

FIG. 7 is a ladder diagram illustrating a low-power mode of a communication lane in a multilane communication link.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Overview

Generally, techniques are presented herein to manage traffic flow across a plurality of communication lanes between two devices, which allows a multilane communication link operating at lower capacities to conserve power by powering-down one or more of its communication lanes. Additionally, the multilane communication link may power-up one or more of the communication lanes when high performance is needed.

Traffic is sent between a first device and a second device over a plurality of active communication lanes of a communication link. A number of the active communication lanes of the communication link is altered. Thereafter, traffic is sent over the altered number of active communication lanes.

In order to alter the number of active communication lanes, traffic between the first device and the second device across a plurality of communication lanes of a communication link is stalled. A first device side of the communication lane is powered-down on at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one communication lane. A power-down request is sent from the first device to the second device to power-down a second device side of the at least one communication lane. Traffic is resumed between the first device and the second device over the altered number of active communication lanes.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Presented herein is a method to save power on a communication link, e.g., a fabric link, by turning some of the lanes off when traffic is still actively flowing on other lanes. and when needed, powering up more lanes. This is achieved by a link level protocol over the fabric link. The device at one of the two ends of a fabric link is designated as “Master” and the other as “Target.” The Master device is capable of initiating a power saving protocol to avoid any potential deadlocks.

The protocol involves an exchange of a series of control messages before lanes can be added or removed. Adding (powering up) and removing (powering down) lanes requires the scrambler/descrambler on the transmit/receive devices to work in synchronization to avoid errors. This synchronization is achieved through “Markers.” Markers play an important role in ensuring the reliability of power down/power up process, as described hereinafter.

Referring to FIG. 1, a switched fabric 100 is configured to communicate data between a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120. Specifically, the first apparatus 110 may be embodied in a first linecard and the second apparatus 120 may be embodied in a second linecard. The fabric 100 is made up of a plurality of multilane communication links or multilane fabric links 130 a-d and 140 a-d. Each fabric link 130 a-d, 140 a-d is comprised of a plurality of fabric lanes, for example, eight fabric lanes (not shown). The multilane fabric links 130 a-d, 140 a-d communicate between the first apparatus 110 and second apparatus 120 through fabric spine 150. Specifically, each end of multilane fabric links 130 a-d, 140 a-d terminates in a crossbar (“xbar”) located in one of the first apparatus 110, second apparatus 120, or fabric spine 150. Specifically, multilane fabric links 130 a-d connect between xbar 160 a in first apparatus 110 and xbars 170 a-d in fabric spine 150. Similarly, multilane fabric links 140 a-d connect between xbars 170 a-d in fabric spine 150 and xbar 180 b in second apparatus 120. For example, the ends of each of the eight fabric lanes of multilane fabric link 130 a terminate in xbars 160 a and 170 a, respectively. Similarly, the ends of each of the eight lanes in multilane fabric link 140 a terminate in xbars 170 a and 180 b, respectively. Each of the xbars 160 a-b, 170 a-d, 180 a-b is configured to dynamically scale the number of active lanes in fabric links 130 a-d and 140 a-d, respectively. Additional multilane fabric links (not depicted) may form further connections between xbars 160 a,b, 170 a-d and 180 a,b.

Included in first linecard 110 and second linecard 120 are application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”) 185 a-d and 190 a-d, respectively. Also included in linecard 110 is switched fabric 187 which includes multilane fabric links 188 a-h and allows intercommunication between ASICs 185 a-d through xbars 160 a and b. Similarly, switched fabric 197 includes multilane fabric links 198 a-h and allows intercommunication between ASICs 195 a-d through xbars 180 a and b. As with fabric 100, xbars 160 a,b and 180 a-b may be configured to dynamically scale the number of active lanes in multilane fabric links 188 a-h and 198 a-h, respectively.

Turning now FIG. 2, depicted therein is a detailed view of xbar 160 a, multilane fabric link 130 a, and xbar 170 a. Specifically depicted in xbar 160 a are the portions of xbar 160 a which may be used during dynamic communication link scaling, while other portions of xbar 160 a may have been omitted for simplifying the description. As can be seen in FIG. 2, multilane fabric link 130 a is made up of eight separate fabric lanes 210 a-h. In order to send data across multilane fabric link 130 a, and to dynamically scale the number of fabric lanes 210 a-h that are active for data transfers, xbar 160 a includes control logic 220. Control logic 220 may be embodied in a multipurpose microprocessor. Accordingly, memory 230 may comprise software instructions that when executed by the multipurpose microprocessor cause the processor to dynamically scale the number of fabric lanes 210 a-h used to perform data transfers, thereby performing dynamic link scaling. According to other examples, control logic 220 may be embodied in an ASIC specifically designed with hardwired logic to control the transfer of data and dynamically scale the number of fabric lanes 210 a-h which are active for a data transfer.

When data is sent from xbar 160 a to xbar 170 a, data received from input/output port 240 is sent to encoder 245. Specifically, control logic 220 may first split that data stream into separate streams for each of fabric lanes 210 a-h that will be active during the data transfer. For example, if all of fabric lanes 210 a-h will be active during the transfer, control logic 220 will split the input data into eight separate streams. If, on the other hand, only fabric lanes 210 a and b will be active during the data transfer, control logic 220 will split the input data into two separate data streams.

Encoder 245, upon receiving the data streams from control logic 220, will encode the data according to the transfer protocol used to send data across fabric lanes 210 a-h. According to one example, encoder 245 encodes the data into 64-bits, plus an additional 2 bits of data which may be used to identify the type of data sent in the remaining 64 bits of the code word. Encoder 245 may comprise eight separate data stream encoders 247 a-h, one for each of fabric link lanes 210 a-h.

Each 64/66 bit code word is then sent from encoder 245 to scrambler 249. Scrambler 249 may modify the code words generated by encoder 245 to ensure a balanced data stream. Specifically, scrambler 249 may modify the code words to ensure that the number of “0”s sent over each fabric lane 210 a-h is approximately equal to the number of “1”s sent over each fabric lane 210 a-h, thereby ensuring a direct current (“DC”) balanced data stream.

The scrambled and balanced code words are sent from scrambler 249 to mark insertion logic 251. In mark insertion logic 251, markers are included in the data stream that allow the sending xbar, such as xbar 160 a, to remain in alignment with the receiving xbar, such as receiving xbar 170 a. Similar to encoder 245, mark insertion logic 251 may include a separate mark inserter 253 a-h for each of fabric lanes 210 a-h. After mark insertion, the encoded and scrambled data is sent to serializer/deserializer (“serdes”) macro 255. Serdes macro 255 contains a separate serdes 257 a-h for each of fabric lanes 210 a-h. The serdes 257 a-h serialize the encoded and scrambled data for transfer to xbar 170 a over the fabric lanes 210 a-h that are currently active.

Upon receiving data from xbar 170 a over fabric lanes 210 a-h, xbar 160 a effectively reverses the process described above for sending data. The data is received over fabric lanes 210 a-h on the presently active fabric lanes. The serdes macro 255 receives the serialized data, and the serdes 257 a-h deserialize the data received from their respective fabric lanes. Once deserialized, the data is sent to deskew logic 259 where the markers inserted by the sending xbar 170 a are used to ensure that xbar 160 a is in correct alignment with xbar 170 a.

With alignment ensured, the markers are removed from the encoded data, and the 64/66 bit code words are sent to descrambler 261. Descrambler 261 reverses the DC-balancing performed in the scrambler of the sending xbar, such as xbar 170 a. The unbalanced code words are subsequently sent to decoder 263 where the data is decoded. As with encoder 245, decoder 263 may include eight separate data stream decoders 265 a-h, one for each of fabric lanes 210 a-h. The decoded data is then sent to control logic 220 for use by a device, such as first linecard 110 of FIG. 1, or subsequent transfer to another device.

Because serdes 257 a-h use a significant amount of power even when not actually sending or receiving traffic, by powering-down a portion of serdes 257 a-h that are not necessary to maintain sufficient communication performance, significant power savings may be achieved. Accordingly, control logic 220 is also configured to power-up and power-down one or more fabric lanes 210 a-h, as well as their respective serdes 257 a-h. Xbar 160 a may serve as the master device, with control logic 220 initiating the procedure used to dynamically scale the number of active lanes in the multilane fabric link 130 a, with receiving xbar 170 a serving as the target device, responding to the process initiated by sending xbar 160 a. Example processes for powering-up and powering-down fabric lanes 210 a-h are described below with reference to FIGS. 3-8.

Turning now to FIG. 3, depicted therein is a flowchart of a process 300 for dynamically scaling the number of lanes in a multilane fabric link between a first device and a second device. In general, the process includes sending traffic between a first device and a second device over a plurality of active communication lanes of a communication link; altering a number of the active communication lanes of the communication link; and sending traffic over the altered number of active communication lanes. As used herein, “traffic” refers to communications between a first device and the second device unrelated to the management of the dynamic link scaling described herein. Said differently, “traffic” refers to the communications between two devices, such as two xbars, that do not serve to dynamically scale the number of communication lanes in a multilane communication link between the two devices. For example, packet data sent over the multilane fabric during normal operation may be considered traffic. On the other hand, the communications indicated by reference numerals 532-554 and 632-648, described below with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, are communications used to carry out, i.e., manage, the dynamic link scaling. Accordingly messages 532-554 and 632-648 of FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively, are not considered “traffic.”

Specifically, FIG. 3 is directed toward the process steps that would be carried out by one of the devices, in this case the device that serves as the master device, in order to alter the number of the active communication lanes of the communication link. The process begins in step 310 where traffic between a first device and a second device are stalled across a plurality of active communication lanes of a communication link. The stalling of the traffic may be in response to a determination that the traffic being handled by the plurality of communication lanes could be handled by fewer than the current number of active communication lanes. According to other examples, the stalling make take place as a regularly scheduled process. For example, if it is known that certain times of the day historically have lower traffic demands, the first device may regularly initiate the powering-down of one or more communication lanes at a specific time of the day. The term “stalled” is used herein to mean temporarily halted or interrupted.

With traffic stalled at the first device, a first device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes is powered-down to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes in step 320. A lane is said to be deactivated or inactive when it is deactivated. In step 330, a power-down request is sent from the first device to the second device in order to power-down the second device side of the communication lane. Finally, in step 340, traffic is resumed between the first device and the second device over the altered number of active communication lanes.

Turning to FIG. 4, depicted therein is a process 400 for dynamically scaling the number of communication lanes in a multilane fabric link between a first device and a second device. The process contains similarities to process 300 of FIG. 3, but the steps depicted in FIG. 4 may be carried out by a target or slave device of the power-down process. The process begins in step 410 when a power-down request is received at a second device. The second device may be serving as a slave device for the power-down process, and therefore, the power-down request may have been sent by a master device. If the first device is serving as the master device, the power-down request may have been sent by the first device. According to other examples, the power-down request may have been received from a third device, separate from the devices communicating over the multilane fabric link.

In step 420, traffic across a plurality of communication lanes between the first device and the second device are stalled. In step 430, a second device side of the at least one of the communication lanes is powered-down to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes. Finally, in step 440, traffic between the first device and the second device is restarted on the active communication lanes of the communication link.

While FIGS. 3 and 4 generally depict dynamically scaling the number of lanes in a multilane fabric link from the perspective of a master device and a target device, respectively, FIG. 5 provides a more detailed example through ladder diagram 500 illustrating example messages sent between a master device 510 and a target device 520.

Prior to the sending of any messages in FIG. 5, a determination is made as to which of devices 510 and 520 will serve as the master 510 and the target 520. This determination may be made when communication between device 510 and device 520 is initiated. At some point during the communications between master 510 and target 520, a determination is made that one or more of the communication lanes between master 510 and target 520 should be powered-down. This determination may come from either the master 510 or the target 520, or from a third device not illustrated in FIG. 5. Once the determination is made that at least one of the communication lanes between the master 510 and the target 520 should be powered-down, traffic being sent from the master 510 to the target 520 is stalled. The traffic may be stalled at a packet boundary to ensure continuity of the traffic between master 510 and target 520.

Having stalled traffic between master 510 and target 520 on the master device side of the communication link, at 530 a power-down request 532 is sent from the master 510 to the target 520. The power-down request 532 may comprise a specific code word or series of bits that the target device 520 will recognize, not as link traffic, but as a power-down request 532. In addition to sending power-down request 532, master device 510 may start a timer T1 which will measure the duration until a response is received from the target 520. If timer T1 reaches a predetermined value, the master 510 may send another power-down request message or abort the power-down process.

At 534 the power-down request message 532 is received at target device 520. In response to receiving power-down request message 532, target device 520 stalls traffic from target device 520 to master device 510. The traffic from the target device 520 to the master device 510 may also be stalled at a packet boundary to maintain the continuity of the data. Having stalled the traffic, target device 520 sends power-down acknowledgement message 536 at 538.

Power-down acknowledgement 536 is received at the master device 510 at 540, and the power-down acknowledgment serves as an indication to master 510 that target 520 received the power-down request. Power-down acknowledgement 536 may also serve as an indication that communications from target device 520 (except those necessary for the power-down process) have been stalled.

Master 510 may further check to ensure that no messages are received from or sent to target 520 subsequent to receiving power-down acknowledgement message 536. Upon receipt of power-down acknowledgment 536, master 510 sends expected powered-down mark (message) 542. The expected power-down mark 542 is an indication to target device 520 that the power-down process is proceeding, and to expect power-down marks 544 a-c. Both expected powered-down mark 542 and power down marks 544 a-c may be included in the communications by mark insertion logic 251 of FIG. 2.

After sending expected power-down mark 542, master device 510 may wait a period of time T2 before continuing with the power-down procedure. Time T2 may serve to ensure any traffic that may have been delayed is received before any lanes of the communication link are rendered inactive. The master device 510 may also simply wait time period T2 to ensure that target device 520 has sufficient time to receive expected power-down mark 542.

At the conclusion of time T2, master device 510 sends power-down mark 544 a at 546. Master device 510 may also send additional power-down marks, such as marks 544 b and 544 c. By sending multiple power-down marks, the master 510 increases the reliability of the process, as the target device only needs to receive a single power-down mark to continue the power-down process.

The power-down marks 544 a-c may be embodied as unscrambled, direct current balanced, predefined code words. The master device 510 sends power-down marks 544 a-c at a periodic programmable interval. Power-down marks 544 a-c a may include a countdown value so that the target 520 knows how many more power-down marks will be received before power-down happens. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, power-down mark 544 a has a count (Cnt) value of 2, power-down mark 544 b has a count value of 1, and power-down mark 544 c has a count value of 0. The period of power-down marks 544 a-c a may be made short so as to expedite the power-up/down process. Accordingly, the power-down marks 544 a-c a may be referred to as fast power markers.

Having sent all power-down marks 544 a-c, master 510 reconfigures the master side of the multilane fabric link for operation with fewer communication lanes. For example, if a scrambler is used by master 510 to ensure sufficient transitions in the data transmitted over the plurality of communication lanes, the scrambler will be reconfigured to no longer include the lanes that will be powered-down when dividing the data. Also, after sending the power-down marks 544 a-c, master device 510 may start a timer T3. If a predetermined time passes without receiving a response from target 520, master 510 may abort the power-down process and return to its previous state of operation or resend the power down marks.

Due to the countdown of the power-down marks 544 a-c, target device 520 will reconfigure the target side of the multilane fabric link to operate correctly once one or more of the plurality of communication lanes are powered-down at the same time that master 510 reconfigures to operate without the powered-down lanes. While FIG. 5 shows three power-down marks, because the frequency is known for the sending of the marks, and each mark is identified by its countdown value, target 520 can synchronize with master 510 even if only a single power down mark is received. For example, if only power-down mark 544 b is received by target 520, because target 520 knows the frequency at which the power-down marks 544 a-c are sent, and it knows that power-down mark 544 b is the next to last mark, target 520 can anticipate when power-down mark 544 c should have been received, and can reconfigure accordingly.

When reconfiguring target 520, if a descrambler is used to descramble the data received over the plurality of communication lanes, the descrambler will be reconfigured to no longer descramble data from the lanes to be powered-down. Target device 520 will send expected power-down message 548 which is an indication that power-down marks 550 a-c will be subsequently sent to master 510. Power-down marks 550 a-c are then sent. Target device 520 may start a timer T4. If a predetermined time passes without receiving a response from master 510, target 520 may abort the power-down process and return to its previous state of operation or resend the power-down marks.

Upon receipt of at least one of power-down marks 550 a-c, master 510 sends power-down complete message 554. Once this message is sent, traffic is resumed from master device 510, and the serdes on the selected lanes are powered-down one lane at a time. Master 510 can send power-down complete message 554 at the appropriate time, even if only one of power-down marks 550 a-c is received, similar to the process described above with regard to power-down marks 544 a-c. Power-down marks 550 a-c may have count values similar to power-down marks 544 a-c. Upon receipt of power-down complete message 554, target device 520 also resumes traffic, and also powers down the serdes of the selected lanes one at a time.

Powering-down the lanes may involve depowering a serdes for each of the communication lanes that is being powered-down. Because serdes use power even when not actually sending traffic, by powering-down the serdes that are not necessary to maintain sufficient communication performance, significant power savings may be achieved. As depicted in FIG. 5, the serdes for the communication lanes are sent into a deep sleep mode. According to other examples, powering-down the serdes may comprises transitioning the serdes to a low-power mode, or stand-by mode that allows the serdes to transition back to an active mode more quickly.

According to the example of FIG. 5, the selected lanes are not actually powered-down at the master device 510 and the target device 520 until after traffic has resumed on the lanes that are to remain active. By waiting until traffic has resumed before powering-down the lanes, the period during which traffic is stalled between the master device 510 and the target device 520 may be reduced. It is also noted that the lanes to be powered-down are powered-down one at a time at both the master 510 and the target 520. By powering-down the lanes one at a time, noise in the active communication lanes can be reduced.

With reference now made to FIG. 6, depicted therein is a ladder diagram 600 illustrating a process by which inactive lanes of a multilane fabric link can be powered-up. Generally, when higher performance is needed, a first device sends a power up request to the second device in order to power-up a communication lane of a communication link. A first device side of the communication link powers-up at least one of the plurality of communication lanes. The second device side of the communication link also powers-up the at least one of the plurality of communication link. A stop traffic request is sent from the first device to the second device. Then traffic between the first device and the second device across a plurality of communication lanes of a communication link is stalled. The newly powered-up lane is included in the lane alignment. Once the newly powered-up lane is included in the lane alignment, traffic between the first device and the second device is restarted over the active communication lanes.

For example, master device 610 may have previously depowered lanes according to the process of FIG. 2 and/or FIG. 5. According to other examples, master 610 may have simply been initialized with one or more of its communication lanes in a depowered state.

At some point during the communications between master 610 and target 620, a determination is made that one or more of the inactive communication lanes between master 610 and target 620 should be powered-up. This determination may come from either the master 610 or the target 620, or from a third device not illustrated in FIG. 5. Once the determination is made, at 630 master 610 sends power-up request 632 to target 620. Also at 630, master 610 begins powering-up the master side of the previously inactive lanes, and may also start a timer T5. If the timer T5 exceeds a predetermined length of time without having received a response from target 620, the powering-up process may be aborted or the power-up request may be resent.

The powering-up of the master side of the communication lanes may comprise powering-up a previously unpowered serdes on the master side of the communication lane. According to other examples, which will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 7 below, powering-up of the serdes may comprise altering an operational mode of a serdes from a low power sleep mode to a normal mode of operation.

Upon receiving powering-up request 632, target 620 will begin powering-up the target side of the previously inactive lanes. In one example, the communication lanes are powered-up before traffic is stalled in order to shorten the period of time during which traffic is not being sent between master 610 and target 620. Once all of the lanes to be powered-up have been powered-up, and synchronized with the master side of the communication lanes, target device 620 sends block lock status message 634. Block lock status message is an indication to master 610 that all of the previously inactive lanes have been powered-up and the master side of the lanes are synchronized with the target side of the lanes, and traffic between the master 610 and target 620 may now be stalled.

Upon receiving block lock status message 634, master 610 stalls incoming traffic, and sends a stop traffic request (Req) 636 to target 620. Master 610 may also start a timer T6. If time T6 exceeds a predetermined length of time without having received a response from target 620, the powering-up process may be aborted or the stop traffic request may be resent.

Upon receiving stop traffic request 636, target 620 may stall incoming traffic, and also send traffic stop acknowledgment (Ack) 638 to master 610. When both master 610 and target 620 stall their incoming traffic, they may do so at a packet boundary to ensure the continuity of the traffic data. Once target 620 has stalled its incoming traffic, stop traffic acknowledgment 638 is sent from target 620 to master 610.

Upon receipt of stop traffic acknowledgement 638, master 610 sends deskew request message 640 which is a message to target 620 indicating that target 620 should begin realigning for traffic transmission over all powered-up lanes, including the recently powered-up lanes. Master 610 may start timer T7 having a predetermined time duration, in order to wait to see if target 620 completes its realignment process. If the predetermined period of time T7 is reached without receiving an indication from target 620 that it has completed its realignment, master 610 may retry initiating the realignment process with target 620, or abort the powering-up process.

Master 610 begins realigning itself to enable sending traffic over the recently powered-up lanes. For example, a scrambler may be reconfigured to direct current balance the data sent across all of the powered-up link lanes, including the recently powered-up lanes. Accordingly, master 610 may enable the scrambler for use with all communication lanes, and depower the scrambler used when fewer than all the lanes are in use. Upon receiving deskew request 640, target 620 begins realigning for transmission over all of the powered-up lanes, including the recently powered-up lanes. The realignment may comprise realigning a single scrambler to operate over all of the powered-up lanes, or enabling a scrambler which operates when all lanes are powered-up. When the realignment process has begun at target 620, target 620 sends deskew acknowledgement 642.

During the realignment process, master 610 may send power marks 644 a-c and target 620 may send power marks 646 a-c. As with power marks 544 a-c and 550 a-c described above in connection with FIG. 5, power marks 644 a-c and 646 a-c allow master 610 and target 620 to ensure correct timing of the alignment for the traffic that will soon be sent over the powered-up communication lanes. Similarly, power marks 644 a-c and 646 a-c may be included in communications through mark insertion logic 251 of FIG. 2. While FIG. 6 depicts deskew acknowledgement 642 being sent after receipt of power marks 644 a-c, this need not be the case. Instead, deskew acknowledgement 642 is sent in response to having received deskew request 640, regardless of whether power marks 644 a-c have been sent or received.

Upon receipt of power-up marks 646 a-c, master 610 sends power-up complete message 648 and once again sends traffic over the communication link, now over all of the powered-up lanes. Similarly, upon receipt of power-up complete message 648, target 620 begins sending and receiving traffic over all of the powered-up lanes of the communication link.

As indicated above, the serdes on both the master side and the target side of a communication lane may be completely powered-up and powered-down, or may be alternated between a full-power mode and a low-power sleep mode. Turning to FIG. 7, depicted therein is a ladder diagram 700 illustrating how the serdes on the master 710 and target 720 side of communication link may transition from a full-power mode to a low-power sleep mode. Through the use of the low-power/full-power transitions, instead of completely powering-up and powering-down the serdes, significant time savings can be achieved during the powering-up and powering-down processes.

At the start of the message exchange depicted by ladder diagram 700, both master 710 and target 720 operate in a full-power active state 730 a and 730 b, respectively. When master 710 powers-down the master side of the communication lane, for example, as described above in reference to FIG. 4, the master side of the communication lane enters an initial sleep state 731 during which messages 732 are sent from master 710 to target 720. Messages 732 may comprise specific code words or a specific series of characters which indicate to target 720 that the target-side of the communication lane should be placed in a quiet mode. According to one example, the process is initiated by master 710 transmitting unscrambled lower power idle (LPI) characters (0707070707070707) to the target 720. After sending messages 732, master 710 initiates counter T8 and enters a quite state 732 a. Upon receiving messages 732, target 720 similarly enters a low-power quiet state 732 b.

At the expiration of timer T8, the master-side of the communication lane enters a low power active state 734 a. In the lower-power active state 734 a, master 710 sends alert messages 736 to target 720. Alert messages 736 place the target-side of the communication lane into an alert state 734 b so that the target-side is prepared to receive messages that will place it in a full-power state, if necessary. If no such messages are received, the target-side of the communication lane returns to quiet state 732 b. Similarly, if master 710 does not initiate powering-up of the communication lane, the master-side of the communication lane returns to quiet state 732 a. The master 710 and target 720 repeat this process until the communication lane is to be powered-up. An analogous process may also take place over the target 720 to master 710 link as well.

At 738, a powering-up of the communication lane is initiated. The powering-up of the communication lane may cut short timer T8, placing the master-side of the communication lane in an alert state 734 b earlier than otherwise would have been the case. According to other examples, the powering-up process will simply wait until timer T8 expires. Master 710 sends alert messages 736 as it normally would to place the target-side of the communication lane into alert state 734 b. After sending messages 736, the master-side of the communication lane enters wake-up mode 740 during which it sends messages 742. Messages 742 may comprise specific code words or series of characters which indicate to target 720 that the target-side of the communication lane should enter an active state. Similar to the message sent to initiate the lower power sleep mode, the wake-up process may be initiated by the master 710 transmitting unscrambled LPI characters (0707070707070707) to the target 720. After sending messages 742, the master-side of the communication lane returns to full-power active mode 730 a. Similarly, the target-side of the communication lane returns to full-power active mode 730 b. Because the serdes for the master-side of the communication lane and the target-side of the communication lane were not fully powered-down, the transition to the full-power modes 730 a and 730 b takes place more quickly than it would if the serdes were fully depowered and de-synchronized.

In summary, the foregoing presents techniques to save power on a fabric link by turning some of the lanes off when traffic is still actively flowing on other lanes and when needed, powering up more lanes. This is achieved by a link level protocol over the fabric link. There are numerous advantages of these techniques. The fabric link runs with expected bandwidth and not over speed, thus saving power. Different power modes can be chosen depending on the needed power saving/response time. There is no traffic loss during powering up/down. The power down feature can be used to keep the fabric link active even if some of the serdes links are bad or not working. The power down feature can also be used to allow for programming in serdes on lanes that are down, while the fabric link is still active.

The above description is intended by way of example only. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: sending traffic between a first device and a second device over a plurality of active communication lanes of a communication link; stalling at the first device, the traffic between the first device and the second device across the plurality of active communication lanes of the communication link; altering a number of the active communication lanes of the communication link; sending a power-down request from the first device to the second device to power-down a second device side of the at least one communication lane; receiving from the second device a power-down acknowledgement indicating that traffic has been stalled at the second device; restarting traffic on active communication lanes between the first device and the second device over the communication link; sending a power-down complete message to the second device indicating that traffic has been restarted over the communication link; sending traffic over the altered number of active communication lanes.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the number of active communication lanes comprises: powering-down a first device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first device comprises a first linecard, the second device comprises a second linecard, and the communication link comprises a fabric link between the first linecard and the second linecard.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: sending to the second device a power-down mark indicating that the first device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down; and receiving from the second device a power-down mark indicating that the second device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein powering-down the first device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes comprises powering down the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes after traffic has restarted over the communication link.
 6. The method of claim 2, wherein placing the deactivated at least one of the plurality of communication lanes in a low-power mode comprises alternating the state of the first device side of the deactivated at least one of the plurality of communication lanes from a quiet state to an alert state.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein sending the power-down mark comprises sending a plurality of power-down marks to the second device; and receiving the power-down mark comprises receiving a plurality of power-down marks from the second device.
 8. The method of claim 4, wherein powering-down the first device side of the at least one communication lane comprises disabling a scrambler at the first device; and receiving the power-down mark comprises receiving an indication that a descrambler has been disabled at the second device.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein stalling traffic comprises stalling traffic over each of the plurality of communication lanes.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the power-down request comprises sending the power-down request prior to powering-down the first device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein before stalling at the first device, the traffic between the first device and the second device across the plurality of active communication lanes of the communication link or after sending traffic over the altered number of active lanes, further comprising: sending a power-up request to the second device; powering-up a first device side of at least one inactive communication lane of the communication link to activate the at least one communication lane; stalling traffic with the second device in response to sending the power-up request; sending a realignment request to the second device; sending a power-up complete message to the second device; and restarting traffic with the second device in response to sending the power-up complete message.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein powering-up the at least one first device side of the deactivated communication lane comprises synchronizing the first device side with a second device side of the deactivated communication lane.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving a realignment acknowledgment from the second device.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprises: receiving from the first device the power-down request at the second device, stalling, at the second device, traffic between the first device and the second device across the plurality of communication lanes of the communication link, powering-down the second device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: sending the power-down acknowledgement from the second device to the first device indicating that traffic has been stalled at the second device; receiving a power-down mark from the first device indicating that a first device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down; sending a power-down mark to the first device indicating that the second device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein stalling traffic is performed in response to receiving the power-down request; powering-down the second device side of the at least one communication lane is performed in response to receiving the power-down mark; and sending the power-down mark is in response to powering-down the second device.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the power-down mark comprises receiving a plurality of power-down marks from the first device; and sending the power-down mark comprises sending a plurality of power-down marks to the first device.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein before stalling at the first device, the traffic between the first device and the second device across the plurality of active communication lanes of the communication link or after sending traffic over the altered number of active lanes, further comprising: receiving a power-up request from the first device; powering-up a second device side of at least one deactivated communication lane of the communication link; stalling traffic with the first device in response to the powering-up of the second device side of the at least one deactivated communication lane; receiving a realignment request from the first device; receiving a power-up complete message from the first device.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: sending a realignment acknowledgment to the first device.
 20. An apparatus comprising: a network interface unit configured to enable communications over a network on behalf of a first device; and a processor coupled to the network interface unit and configured to: send and receive traffic from a second device over a plurality of active communication lanes of a communication link; stall at the first device, the traffic between the first device and the second device across the plurality of active communication lanes of the communication link; alter a number of the active communication lanes of the communication link; send, via the network interface, a power-down request from the first device to the second device to power-down a second device side of the at least one communication lane; receive from the second device a power-down acknowledgement indicating that traffic has been stalled at the second device; restart traffic on active communication lanes between the first device and the second device over the communication link; send a power-down complete message to the second device indicating that traffic has been restarted over the communication link; send traffic over the altered number of active communication lanes.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to: power-down a first device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to: send to the second device, through the network interface unit, a power-down mark indicating that the first device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down; and receive from the second device a power-down mark indicating that the second device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down.
 23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to: send a plurality of power-down marks to the second device; and receive a plurality of power-down marks from the second device.
 24. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to: send and receive traffic between a first device and a second device over a plurality of active communication lanes of a communication link; stall at the first device, the traffic between the first device and the second device across the plurality of active communication lanes of the communication link; alter a number of the active communication lanes of the communication link; send a power-down request from the first device to the second device to power-down a second device side of the at least one communication lane; receive from the second device a power-down acknowledgement indicating that traffic has been stalled at the second device; restart traffic on active communication lanes between the first device and the second device over the communication link; send a power-down complete message to the second device indicating that traffic has been restarted over the communication link; send traffic over the altered number of active communication lanes.
 25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: power-down a first device side of at least one of the plurality of communication lanes to deactivate the at least one of the plurality of communication lanes.
 26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: send to the second device a power-down mark indicating that the first device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down; and receive from the second device, a power-down mark indicating that the second device side of the at least one communication lane has been powered-down.
 27. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: send a plurality of power-down marks to the second device; and receive a plurality of power-down marks from the second device. 